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Please do not write below the line

(www.bbctvlicence.com)
312 points dcminter | 6 comments | 21 Oct 24 18:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.875s | source | bottom
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cooper_ganglia ◴[21 Oct 24 19:34 UTC] No.41907633[source]▶
A "TV License" is one of those things I alway assumed people were making up to satirize the claims of over-regulation & bureaucracy in the UK.

Finding out it was real was a mixture of hilarious and sobering.

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Zak ◴[21 Oct 24 19:38 UTC] No.41907684[source]▶
Many European countries are worse about it than the UK; even people who do not own a television are required by law to pay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licence

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1. alvarlagerlof ◴[21 Oct 24 19:45 UTC] No.41907763[source]▶
In Sweden there was this whole thing where you apparently had to pay even if you only owned a laptop.
replies(1): >>41908209 #
2. eastbound ◴[21 Oct 24 20:29 UTC] No.41908209[source]▶
In France you pay the copyright infringement tax on every hard drive / SSD / storage you purchase. But it’s still forbidden to pirate movies.
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3. AshamedCaptain ◴[21 Oct 24 21:31 UTC] No.41908719[source]▶
It is not "copyright infringement" tax. It's called a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy and it's a rather common thing, at least in all of Europe.
replies(2): >>41909727 #>>41911247 #
4. crazygringo ◴[21 Oct 24 23:45 UTC] No.41909727{3}[source]▶
Seems close enough. The article even discusses how it is "often considered a compensation for illegal file sharing". And even if it's common, that doesn't make it any less unfair. (Indeed, the longest section of the article is titled "Questions on fairness".)
5. __turbobrew__ ◴[22 Oct 24 04:10 UTC] No.41911110[source]▶
* Slaps 22TiB SMR drive * This baby can fit so many Linux ISOs on it.
6. mr_toad ◴[22 Oct 24 04:39 UTC] No.41911247{3}[source]▶
I read that as “Pirate” copying levy. Took a few takes to read it as “Private”.